In Harrisburg, it appears as though the tawdry financial relationship between lobbyists and politicians may finally be reigned in.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, Senate Republicans and Democrats are endorsing a package of recently proposed bills that are designed to target the influence of lobbying in the Keystone State.
Lobbyists work on behalf of interest groups, companies or private individuals to sway the vote of legislators. Interest groups include trade groups, unions and environmental organizations, among others.
According to PA Spotlight, Pennsylvania is one of eight states that does not have a complete or partial ban on legislators and other public officials and employees receiving gifts from lobbyists and other advocates with a stake in government.
The current system designed to hold lobbyists and politicians accountable is woefully inadequate. Lawmakers and other public officials in the state can accept any gift they want and gifts less than $250 in value and meals less than $650 are not legally required to be disclosed on annual reports. Additionally, former lobbyists often end up running for political office and vice versa.
Needless to say, an industry many citizens already view to be the cause of systemic corruption is in dire need of reform and restructuring.
After taking office in 2015, Gov. Tom Wolf issued an executive order that prevented anyone in his administration from accepting any form of handout from lobbyists.
In 2018, the state legislature passed new regulations that required interest groups to register with the state government and release to the public how much they spend with increased penalties for those that failed to register on time.
According to PA Spotlight, advocates of anti-lobbyist legislation point out that these changes did not go far enough as they fail to shed light on which legislation they are attempting to lobby for or against and which lawmakers are receiving the gifts. Additionally, there is an open doorway for lobbyists who once worked with the campaigns or staff members of politicians to lobby the very same politicians or even go back to work for them.
After years of kicking the metaphorical can down the road, politicians in Harrisburg have finally decided to bring Pennsylvania up to the level of the rest of the country on lobbying. A series of bills with bipartisan support were proposed in the PA Senate by Republican legislators in early October.
According to PA Senate’s Republican Party, SB 801 seeks to register clients of lobbyists and political kickbacks. SB 801, sponsored by York County Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill, prohibits any state entity from lobbying another government body. The bill also seeks to prevent legislators who are former lobbyists from being lobbied by their former colleagues for a year after their election to the legislature.
SB 803, sponsored by Luzerne County Senator Lisa Baker, would prevent lobbyists from being hired as political consultants to members of the legislature.
Finally, SB 804, drafted by Bucks County Senator Tommy Tomlinson, mandates that all lobbyists complete an annual mandatory ethics training developed by the Department of State.
Additionally, at least eleven bills designed at restricting lobbying have also been moved forward in the PA House. These bills would require every dollar spent by lobbyists to be reported (HB 1606), require lobbyists to fill out financial interest forms (HB 1601), and prohibit lobbyists from doling out certain gifts according to the PA General Assembly website. With bipartisan and public support behind the effort, it appears that the unfettered lobbying of legislators in Pennsylvania may finally get rolled back if these bills are successful.
